Sometimes, nature offers the best ideas. Leonardo da Vinci used a bird as a model, to design a flying apparatus. At the Institute for Applied Construction Research in Weimar, they take an even more detailed approach: The scientists study the surface structures in nature, in order to learn practical lessons.
Sometimes, nature offers the best ideas. Leonardo da Vinci used a bird as a model, to design a flying apparatus. At the Institute for Applied Construction Research in Weimar, they take an even more detailed approach: The scientists study the surface structures in nature, in order to learn practical lessons.
The IAB project is also about flying - yet instead of airplanes, the preconditions for flying take center-stage. An important precondition for safe air traffic is a clean, well maintained runway. Water gutters are used at all airports to direct rain and melt water away from the runway. Exhaust gas, dust and whirled-up dirt clog the gutters and make a regular cleaning necessary, in which case the runway has to be shut down in certain circumstances.
In order to prolong the intervals between the cleanings, the scientists at the IAB Weimar are researching the optimization of the pattern/structure of the drain gutters. Inspired by nature, the researchers designed a surface structure that generates an eddy within the gutter and thereby gives it a self-cleaning effect: The swirled water rinses the dirt out of the gutter. Within the project, RECKLI takes charge of the cast- and mold-making. As experts in shaping concrete surfaces, the RECKLI specialists design and produce the elastic and resilient formliners, with which the surface structure can be transferred to the gutters.